Kota’s laying in bed thinking about the white Armored Rider and the guys in protective suits and maybe them knowing where Yuya might be. But he realizes he’s got to get to work.

His job, that is. Dressed in a Santa suit, Kota is passing out fliers to get people into the store at the mall when he suddenly hears a woman scream. He runs to her and finds she is being attacked by two Inves.

Kota henshins and quickly takes care of them. He heads to the Garage to fill Mitch in and they agree they need to talk to those guys in the suits. But the white Rider will be a problem.

Mitch offers to distract the white Rider, thinking to himself he’ll be fine since it’s his brother. But Kota says it’s too dangerous. Mitch then comes up with an idea to get the other Riders with him so he won’t have to take on the white Rider himself.

Mai-tachi arrive with supplies to make decorations for their Christmas event, but Kota and Mitch have to go. They approach Kaito first with the proposition of a new game. The Armored Riders all enter the forest and the one who gathers the most Lock Seeds will win.

Kota says he’ll sit this game out so it’ll be fair with one Rider for each team. Kaito is intrigued. And though he might be a little suspicious about them being up to something, he agrees to take part.

Ryoji and Hideyasu are also working at the mall, as reindeer, when they get the call from Kota. Hoping for their own stronger Lock Seeds, they easily accept Kota’s game challenge.

The five of them head to Sid to ask if they can have two Lock Vehicles (for Ryoji and Hideyasu) for the little game they’ll be playing. What’s in it for Sid? Mitch explains the game and says they’ll be giving him the Lock Seeds in exchange for the bikes.

Also intrigued, he agrees and promises them the bikes for around Christmas.

At the Garage, Mai is annoyed at the guys challenging other teams to a game when they’re comfortably in first place and without talking to the group first. But Kota and Mitch say they need to do this to figure out what’s going on and to possibly stop something terrible from happening. Also, they may get info on Yuya’s whereabouts. They assure the team that they’ll be back in time for the Christmas event.

At Yggdrasill, Sid is in the boardroom talking to Ryoma via the big screen. Ryoma questions Sid’s motives in giving outsiders Lock Vehicles and therefore access into Helheim Forest where they might interfere with the investigation teams.

Sid admits that he has his concerns about Takatora calling all the shots and if the Riders heading into the forest forces Takatora to hear other people’s opinions, then he’s good with that. Ryoma is amused and thinks maybe he has a point. Sid says it’s a great point, especially since no one has been chosen by the Forest yet. (Wha??!!)

That night, Kota and Mitch go over their game plan. While the four participants go collecting Lock Seeds and eventually keep the white Rider busy, Kota will try and find the investigating team’s base of operations.

Kota apologizes for Mitch having to be bait, but Mitch assures him everything will be okay. Kota is still worried about white Rider being very skilled and knowing all the Riders’ strengths.

Next morning, Mitch stops his brother before he leaves the manse and asks if he knows anything about the monsters attacking in town. Ygggrasill must know what’s going on since they run the city. But Takatora says he doesn’t know anything about it. And that Yggdrasill doesn’t run the city, they just ensure the city is tops with health care and the citizens’ well-being.

Kota watches as the four game participants meet up. Mitch officially declares the game has started, but Oren interrupts and says he wants to play too.

He shows them DJ Sagara reporting on their not-so-secret game and wanting to join. He’s even got his own Lock Vehicle ready which he says was no trouble to get. Mitch has no choice but to let him join as Kota cringes.

C’est bon! Oren exclaims and asks if they should start by taking care of the army of darling Inves that have appeared behind them first.

Mr. Dangerous henshins first as they all try and fight off the Inves. Mitch gets his Driver knocked out of his hands as Kaito asks if this is part of the game. Mitch says no it isn’t so Kaito henshins, hops on his Lock Vehicle and hurries into the forest. Mitch did say the game has already started.

Mitch is next to henshin as Oren also drives into the forest.

Ryoji and Hideyasu henshin. But Hideyasu has a little trick up his sleeve. He tosses a Lock Seed at the Inves fighting with Mitch and it quickly eats it up and evolves. This was never against the rules, Hideyasu says and he and Ryoji say See ya later to Mitch as they head to the forest as well.

One of Takatora’s scientists reports to him that Armored Riders are arriving in Helheim Forest one after the other. What the hell is Sid thinking, Takatora asks and he heads off.

Mitch uses a new Lock Seed to use Kiwi Arms and as soon as the nut Riders are gone, Kota henshins as well.

Kota tells Mitch to hurry after the others and to leave these Inves to him. Mitch tosses him the watermelon Lock Seed as he goes back to Budou mode and hops on his bike.

Kota locks on the Suika Lock Seed and goes into Armored Mode to finish off the remaining Inves. Henshining back to Orange Arms, he too hurries into the forest.

At Yggdrasill, Takatora heads down to what looks like a command center… which contains a tree with a direct zippered opening to Helheim Forest.

Takatora henshins.

Episode Thoughts
Another great episode. I really love the idea that Kaito, Ryoji, Hideyasu and of course Oren have no idea or at least, don’t give a crap about what kind of danger there is in using the Lock Seeds and the danger that is brought in by the Inves. I like that it gives Kota and Mitch more responsibility and puts more on their shoulders. For Kota, it’s great since he’s the title character of course. And for Mitch, it adds to his own story with relation to his brother and how that sh-t will all come down.

The Yggdrasill drama is definitely bubbling up and it appears it’s about ready to pop in the next episode. Again, the story development has been amazing. How it has progressed over these last 10 episodes is something Power Rangers Megaforce can learn a great deal from.

On to the cool things, I definitely loved Kota’s running henshin and the overhead shot as the orange opened up. The effort they put into having to CGI his orange armor flap around as he runs in slow motion is awesome.

In the future, I would love to see an all-Rider fight though. No, not in the movie wars. But like in this episode where they all henshin and are fighting Inves together like they’re Sentai or Power Rangers. It would be amusing and definitely something different for Kamen Rider. At least, for a Kamen Rider noob like me.

TAR Philippines: DryedMangoez Edition

Season 2?! Why yes! Season 2 of The Amazing Race Philippines: DryedMangoez Edition has arrived!

While waiting for the (currently unlikely) 3rd! season of The Amazing Race Philippines on TV5, how about also enjoying the first ever "Biyaheng Asya" edition of the DryedMangoez Edition right here! ;)

You can also click here for the fun little first season Race through the Philippines and Asia!

Pardon the dust!

DryedMangoez.com is undergoing a little freshening up!
First of all, ALL Amazing Race recaps will be posted right here on DryedMangoez.com from now on!
Meanwhile, all past Amazing Race recaps have been migrated from Xanga, but not all have been retagged and categorized. So the links above in the menu will slowly point to their respective TAR seasons soon!

Thanks so much for visiting! And look forward to a spiffy new DryedMangoez.com! =D